CITY OF LAUNCESTON BUDGET: At what point does dysfunctionalism get to be called out!?

Adjustments to the 2022-23 City of Launceston budget have been made with a decrease in external funding and increased expenses pushing the books further into the red. However, the money has not vanished 

The amendments, which are expected to be ratified by councillors at their July 27 meeting, show that the overall deficit for the year was $9.09 million rather than the $4.9 million initially forecast. 

According to council agenda papers, this has chiefly been driven by $16.4 million of expected external funding that was not received alongside about $1 million in extra expenses.

Of the external funding that was not received $16.38 million is expected to flow this year, including $9.8 million for the Albert Hall upgrade and $2.8 million for the tennis centre. 

While balancing the books, council officers also reviewed capital works projects that were unable to move forward last financial year. These will not be carried forward into the upcoming financial year, however they will be paused indefinitely as and are set to be "reassessed in future years". 

Projects on hold include the north and south St John Street components of the Launceston City Heart project, which seeks to redevelop the precinct, and the ongoing renewal of stormwater mains. 

A total of $4.65 million has been deducted from the capital budget assigned to eight projects, and combined with the transfer of some capital funds to operational expenses reduces the overall capital works budget to $16.15 million.

10 QUESTIONS

1. At what point did management 'secure' Federal and State Government project funding allocations?
2. Why haven't these external budget allocations been delivered?
3. On what grounds have these funding allocations been withheld and/or not delivered as planned for?
4. When did it become known to Councillors – the constituents' representatives – that budget allocations were at risk and if there were delays what was the rationale for not keeping Councillors and constituents fully informed?
5. On what rationale has 'Council' serially imposed 'operational confidentiality' relative to operational fiscal matters?
6. Given the outcomes and evidence to hand, why isn't 'Council' initiating a root and branch reassessment of the City of Launceston's operational structure and its 'cost centres'?
7. When will Council share with its constituency a list of infrastructure and other projects that are being strategically delayed and/or abandoned?
8. When will Council consider strategic, formal and meaningfully engagement with experts in the wider community who posses qualifications and experience not present within Council's operational structure?
9. Short, medium and long term what are the realistic prospects of significant increases in rate demands across all ratepayers?
10. While Local Government should never speculate with ratepayers' funds, strategically, what alternative income generation initiatives are under consideration to assist in alleviating the city's fiscal stress?